Brad Larsen is 36 years old. There are days, like yesterday, when that doesn’t seem so young anymore, he said.

Larsen coaches the Blue Jackets’ top minor league affiliate in Springfield, Mass., and he’s coaching the Jackets’ prospects during development camp in the OhioHealth Ice Haus this week. One of those prospects is Kerby Rychel, whom Larsen first met as a 4-year-old in 1998 when he played with Rychel’s dad, Warren, in the Colorado Avalanche organization.

Rychel was one of the Blue Jackets’ first-round picks (No. 19 overall) at last month’s NHL draft.

“Kerby was literally this tall,” Larsen said, putting his left hand just about his left knee. “He was just terrorizing the basement of the house, just full of energy. He doesn’t remember, obviously, but I remember little Kerby coming to the rink. When I heard him get drafted last week, that’s the first thing I thought of. This is aging me, really quickly.”

Larsen had his first “I’m not young anymore” moment during the 2007 season, while playing for the Atlanta Thrashers against the Ottawa Senators.

“I played three years in Hershey when Mike Foligno was my coach, and he’d have his boys out on the ice with us all the time when they were just a little bit bigger than Kerby was,” Larsen said. “I’d kind of lost track of his kids a little bit, and more than a few years passed by. Nick was drafted and had gone through the Senators system, but I’d lost track of him.

“Well, one night we went out for the opening faceoff for a game in Ottawa, and, sure enough, Nick Foligno reaches out and taps me on the pad and says, ‘Hey, my dad says hi!’ ”

Foligno is now a Blue Jackets winger.

Murray returns

Defenseman Ryan Murray took a couple of hits to his left shoulder, even fell down on it once. It felt great.

“A couple of bumps, yeah, but I never felt anything sore or different or uncomfortable,” Murray said. “Today was a good day.”

Murray hasn’t taken part in a competitive practice since suffering a dislocated left shoulder in November.

“I want to show everyone that I’ve still got it, I can still play,” Murray said. “The injury hasn’t affected my game at all.”

Murray plans to stay in Columbus the rest of the summer. He’s living with defenseman Thomas Larkin, who just finished four years at Colgate and is turning pro.

Slap shots

Defenseman Will Weber (rib) and forward T.J. Tynan (summer classes) aren’t taking part in class. … Former Ohio State coach Mark Osiecki was hired by Chicago as an assistant coach for its American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford, Ill.

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